If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

also, for the record----according to the press release---"the search continued throughout Monday, focusing on high probablitity areas such as drainages in the area where Hill was last seen".............

Did they do a high density search? You know, where you form a line, always within sight of the person on your left and right, looking under every nook and cranny. I think not. That an awful lot of area to cover by a random search, I would have expected it to take weeks.

The press release by the park service about the bear being, somewhat, of an innocent bystander is BS, IMO. Probably written by some lawyer with the service fearful of a lawsuit by the family claiming the park service was negligent in letting the bear population increase to a level where it was a threat to human life. If I were a slip and fall lawyer, thatís what I would be reaching out to the family about, after a reasonable period of bereavement, of course.

.. As far as a fully grown aggressive black bear dragging a 200 pound body a half a mile, piece of cake!

Is it impossible? Of course not, but bears are lazy creachers just like we are... They are not going to do more work than they have to (hence the reason garbage bears become a problem... If they have access to garbage, that's a much simpler food source than foraging).
So I can think of much of a reason for a bear to carry a large carcus (man, deer, etc) more than perhaps 100 yards. It's not like they have a refrigerator at home to store the carcus, they just need a place to somewhat hide it.

IF he was along the road, perhaps he spotted a bear, got scared, and started foolishly running thru the woods to escape, and it took half a mile before the bear decided "I've had enough" over took him with it's superior speed and hit the man over the head with a rock (to hide the fact it was a bear attack).

While park managers made the decision to euthanize the bear on Wednesday, the effort to carry out the action is on-going. When the bear was trapped lateTuesday night, a GPS tracking collar was placed on it so that it could be readily found again after park officials were able to review all available evidence and give careful consideration before making any decision. Once the difficult decision was made to euthanize the bear out of concern for public safety, the process of euthanizing the animal has taken longer than anticipated.
Although wildlife managers know the bear is still in the area, it has thus far evaded efforts for them to get close enough for a clean shot to be taken to humanely euthanize it. The efforts are on-going and Rich Mountain Road and the surrounding area remains closed.
While park managers made the decision to euthanize the bear on Wednesday, the effort to carry out the action is on-going. When the bear was trapped lateTuesday night, a GPS tracking collar was placed on it so that it could be readily found again after park officials were able to review all available evidence and give careful consideration before making any decision. Once the difficult decision was made to euthanize the bear out of concern for public safety, the process of euthanizing the animal has taken longer than anticipated.
Although wildlife managers know the bear is still in the area, it has thus far evaded efforts for them to get close enough for a clean shot to be taken to humanely euthanize it. The efforts are on-going and Rich Mountain Road and the surrounding area remains closed.
While park managers made the decision to euthanize the bear on Wednesday, the effort to carry out the action is on-going. When the bear was trapped lateTuesday night, a GPS tracking collar was placed on it so that it could be readily found again after park officials were able to review all available evidence and give careful consideration before making any decision. Once the difficult decision was made to euthanize the bear out of concern for public safety, the process of euthanizing the animal has taken longer than anticipated.
Although wildlife managers know the bear is still in the area, it has thus far evaded efforts for them to get close enough for a clean shot to be taken to humanely euthanize it. The efforts are on-going and Rich Mountain Road and the surrounding area remains closed. UPDATE/CLARIFICATION TO NEWS RELEASE:
While park managers made the decision to euthanize the bear on Wednesday, the effort to carry out the action is on-going. When the bear was trapped lateTuesday night, a GPS tracking collar was placed on it so that it could be readily found again after park officials were able to review all available evidence and give careful consideration before making any decision. Once the difficult decision was made to euthanize the bear out of concern for public safety, the process of euthanizing the animal has taken longer than anticipated.
Although wildlife managers know the bear is still in the area, it has thus far evaded efforts for them to get close enough for a clean shot to be taken to humanely euthanize it. The efforts are on-going and Rich Mountain Road and the surrounding area remains closed.

On virtually every news story I have ever read, where I had inside information, the facts were misreported.

That may be, but has nothing to do with the situation here. The news stations reported the information they were given accurately and in a timely manner. The responsibility for the incorrect information lies solely with the NPS and hardly constitutes 'fake news'.

That may be, but has nothing to do with the situation here. The news stations reported the information they were given accurately and in a timely manner. The responsibility for the incorrect information lies solely with the NPS and hardly constitutes 'fake news'.

Either way the information was incorrect regardless of who reported it originally; you're splitting hairs here, and I was using the term in jest. I'm glad that the bear wasn't euthanized and his behavior will be studied instead to see if he stumbled upon the corpse or if he has a pattern of aggression.

Not really seeing any new facts, at least not as far as the man is concerned.

Looks like the only "new" facts is that it appears that back on Tuesday, the park service had "made the decision" to euthanize the bear, but the actual act had not yet been carried out. But the bear is collared, and once they've tracked him down and euthanized it, we'll be right where we were yesterday... speculating on ways to die in GSMNP while waiting for a medical examiners report to get released.

That may be, but has nothing to do with the situation here. The news stations reported the information they were given accurately and in a timely manner. The responsibility for the incorrect information lies solely with the NPS and hardly constitutes 'fake news'.

and that's exactly what we did....

the Park told up "they made the decision to euthanize the bear"......

we have to go on what they tell us...........and thats what they told us...

Not really seeing any new facts, at least not as far as the man is concerned.

Looks like the only "new" facts is that it appears that back on Tuesday, the park service had "made the decision" to euthanize the bear, but the actual act had not yet been carried out. But the bear is collared, and once they've tracked him down and euthanized it, we'll be right where we were yesterday... speculating on ways to die in GSMNP while waiting for a medical examiners report to get released.

It will be a real shame if that bear just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time; I know the decision is "made" but I hope that after utilizing the collar they'll be able to make a more informed decision as to whether or not this decision is correct.

It will be a real shame if that bear just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time; I know the decision is "made" but I hope that after utilizing the collar they'll be able to make a more informed decision as to whether or not this decision is correct.

the Park service, in the release that they sent to news organizations, said they trapped the bear----and recovered human DNA from it......

the Park service, in the release that they sent to news organizations, said they trapped the bear----and recovered human DNA from it......

along with the bear showing aggressive behaviors....

so, this is not the "wrong place at wrong time".........

in the end, once they find this bear, it's dead....

If he stumbled upon the corpse and used it as a food source or sniffed around it to consider doing so I'm sure they'd recover DNA. I wish the NPS would give us more details as to what the aggressive behaviors were, was he just returning to the site to check if his potential meal was still there? Or did he charge & woof/chomp? It's getting towards fall where they want to fatten up quite a bit so defending what he thought was an easy meal he found could be considered normal behavior.
They're the professionals though, I really hope they (Edit) *made* the right decision.